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White House: No 'parallel' between Trump and Moore's views on gay rights, Muslims

The White House sought to distance President Trump from Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore's most controversial comments, arguing that he does not agree with all the views shared by the candidate he recently endorsed.

"I have not taken a deep dive into every comment the Senate nominee has made, but I certainly know where the president stands on those issues," Huckabee Sanders said Thursday.

"I wouldn’t see any parallel between the two of them on that front.”

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Huckabee Sanders refused to entertain what she called the "hypothetical" question about if there are any views that a candidate could hold that would disqualify that candidate from an endorsement.

Trump joined with the GOP establishment in backing Strange's bid, even as many of Trump's early supporters, including former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, backed Moore. But Trump's endorsement fell short of full-throated support, as he mused during a Friday rally for Strange about the possibility of having made a mistake.

The White House reporter specifically asked Huckabee Sanders about Moore's 2005 comment that "homosexual conduct should be illegal," his argument that American tragedies could have been caused by a drift away from religion, and a 2006 op-ed where he wrote that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) shouldn't serve in Congress because a Muslim can't "swear allegiance to our Constitution."